Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to food analogs and particularly to fish analogs having a realistic flaked fish-like appearance and texture and methods for making such analogs.
Description of Related Art
Methods for making food analogs are known in the food industry. Typically, to reduce the cost of certain food products, often by replacing all or a portion of real meat with meat substitutes, there has been a demand for meat analogs that resemble chunks or pieces of real meat in appearance, texture, and physical structure. Such products are used as a partial or complete replacement for more expensive real meat chunks in food products such as stews, pot pies, casseroles, canned foods, and pet foods. Chunky meat products are highly desirable in human and pet foods, both for aesthetic quality and consumer appeal. These chunky products provide a more economical product that attempts to simulate real meat chunks in shape, appearance, and texture.
Early efforts to develop meat analogs include producing such analogs from vegetable protein and/or meat sources using extrusion-expansion techniques or other conventional means. These products are in the form of a uniform, homogeneous mass, but lack the structure, texture, and appearance of real meat chunks. Therefore, these products are not suitable for use in applications in which the use of simulated meat chunks is desired. Later efforts were somewhat more successful. An improvement in meat analogs is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,781,939. This patent discloses processing a meat emulsion under conditions that produce a layered, non-expanded product in the form of chunks or pieces that simulate real meat chunks in texture, appearance, and consistency. The product is in the form of distinct chunks or pieces having a plurality of juxtaposed, manually separable meat-like layers resembling a fibrous chunk of real meat in appearance, texture, and consistency. A further improvement in meat analog fibrous appearance and texture is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,379,738. The meat emulsion chunks are suitable for use as a partial or complete replacement for more expensive natural meat chunks in both human and animal foods. They retain their integrity and shape when subjected to commercial canning and sterilization procedures such as those required in the production of canned, high moisture food products, including pet food products. However, while these methods produced somewhat acceptable meat analogs that had the fibrous appearance of pork, beef, and the like, the methods failed to provide fish analogs with an acceptable appearance and texture that mimicked real fish.
Attempts to produce fish analogs are described in WO2008034063. The patent application discloses a fish analog comprising a mixture of fibrous plant protein and real fish meat. The fibrous texture of the plant protein component is not characteristic of fish and thus not an acceptable simulation of real fish meat. An acceptable simulated fish product when cooked should be easily separated into layers or flakes that are not interconnected by fibrous strands and should have a short, soft and non-elastic bite. Other fish and meat analogs and methods for making such analogs are known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,188,854 discloses a process for producing a seafood analog product comprising the steps of mixing chunks of a natural fish and a binder to coat the surfaces of the chunks with the binder, forming the coated chunks into a desired shape, subjecting the formed, binder-coated chunks to an elevated temperature to raise the internal temperature of the chunks to a predetermined level sufficient to cook the chunks and set the binder, and subjecting the formed and cooked binder coated chunks to pasteurization. U.S. Pat. No. 5,254,352 discloses a fish fillet or fish steak analog containing fish chunks having a gelled surimi paste between adjacent chunks and substantially covering the surfaces of the chunks. U.S. Pat. No. 5,939,129 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,146,684 disclose processes for producing ground fish meat products or their analogues, which uses, as the main raw material, non-salt ground fish meat along with a gel of glucomannan hydrate, or a gel of glucomannan hydrate only. U.S. Pat. No. 6,736,053 discloses an apparatus for automatically producing a paste food product resembling in appearance a crab's leg meat that causes a sensation of a crab's leg meat upon eating. U.S. Pat. No. 6,908,634 discloses transglutaminase-coupled vegetable protein compositions and processes for preparing the compositions, particularly soy fish and meat products and their analogs. US2005008758A1 discloses methods for preparing meat analogues by (a) hydrating a textured vegetable protein to form a hydrated textured vegetable protein; (b) preparing a protein base containing vital wheat gluten, milk-derived protein, and water; and (c) combining the hydrated textured vegetable protein and the protein base. WO04016097A1 discloses a method of manufacturing a texturised proteinaceous meat analogue having a relative water activity of less than about 0.8, comprising proteinaceous materials selected from the group consisting of defatted soy flour, soy meal, soy concentrate, cereal gluten (in vital or starch containing form) and egg white powder, edible binding and cross-linking compounds, and a humectant of glycerol and glucose, and the products thereof. WO04045301A1 discloses a proteinaceous meat analogue consisting of particles of internally texturised, proteinaceous extrudate material dispersed in a gelled matrix composed of ground meat-based and cereal-based materials; wherein the moisture content of said extrudate and said matrix are different; and wherein the internal texturisation of said extrudate has a fibrous structure. WO2007090916A1 discloses a method for forming myotomes or myosepta in restructured fish products consisting of joining sheets based on surimi or minced fish using an adhesive mixture comprising an aqueous dispersion or a powder mixture containing a binder or an adhesive which uses covalent bonds to join a thermoreversible binder and a white color enhancer.
Unfortunately, known methods for producing fish analogs result in products that do not have a realistic fish-like appearance or texture, mainly due to a fibrous appearance. There is, therefore a need for new fish analogs and methods for making fish analogs that have a realistic fish-like appearance and texture.